LSU pays Kelly $54 million, ending a tumultuous coaching tenure marked by public drama and contract disputes.
It’s been a disaster of a divorce between the LSU Tigers and former head coach Brian Kelly, who has officially been terminated with cause and finally received final notice of it on Wednesday afternoon. In doing so, the Tigers will now owe Kelly the full $54 million buyout. That will be paid over the next six years as long as Kelly makes “good-faith effort” to be hired in those cycles.
The saga at LSU has been nothing short of a circus, and as they look to hire their next head coach, with so many rumors swirling around current Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin. But the Tigers were on their way to an un-hirable vacancy with the way they’ve treated this scenario with Kelly.
Here is the full story from LSU Roundtable writer Dylan Sanders on the situation finally coming to a close with Kelly’s tenure.
It was borderline embarrassing for the Tigers, as current Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry was publicly involved in the process that became a laughingstock. At one point, LSU tried to say that they hadn’t actually fired Kelly at all, and then they tried to negotiate a smaller buyout of $25 to $30 million paid out in a lump sum – obviously, Kelly and his representatives turned down that offer of less than $20 million than what he was owed.
Now, the Tigers can finally move on.